Pavilion Restaurant & Lounge

I went here several months ago after I saw an ad with a coupon.  It is located in a strip mall and is a small place with about 15 tables.  The inside looks very nice with cloth tablecloths and great decor.  
The service was good, however, the food was very unimpressive.  I was not eating meat at the time and ordered the Grilled Three Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Bisque.  Both items were only lukewarm when they were brought to the table and the crust on the grilled cheese was so hard it was inedible.  Very disappointing.  My boyfriend ordered the Wagyu Burger.  Wagyu beef is supposed to have better marbling and a higher fat content so he expected this burger to have great flavor and be very juicy.  Not the case.  The patty was so dry and flavorless that he ended up putting ketchup on it.  In his words, "If I am going to pay this much for a burger, I shouldn't need to put ketchup on it to make it taste better."  
The only good part of the meal was the appetizer we ordered, Mushrooms Julienne.  But even that wasn't exceptional and wouldn't be worth going back for.
I will not be returning.

I dinned twice at the Pavilion. I have mixed feeling about the place.

The first time I had the dinner, the food was cooked very well. It surprised me that a restaurant in a strip mall like place can offer such quality food. The first time, we had tuna tartar, Ukrainian potato pierogi, chicken tabaka, and Asian skirt steak.

The tuna tartar is well balanced and fresh, though it has more tomato than tuna. The chicken tabaka is tasty. It is fried perfectly. The choice of corn chicken for the dish allows the flavors on the skin to penetrate the meat easily. The Asian skirt steak is also very well executed. The sauce definitely has Asian influence. Nothing special about the pierogi. All dishes are nicely presented.

Due to the good experience of the first time, I decided to give it another visit. This time I tried trio-lamb chop paired with creamy Spinach. I also tried the caviar blini. The lamb chop is definitely over cooked, which leaves me very disappointed.

BTW, the portion of the appetizer is sort of small. Not good for a group of people to share.

The inconsistency of the experience is a big turn down for me to go back again.

June 13, 2012

I did a "Groupon Now!"  for lunch today, and we ate at the Buffalo Grove location.  Excellent meal and service (but to be forthright, there was only one other table occupied.)  We will certainly go back.

The outside tables were clean and had little vases of flowers on them. We started out there, and watching the fountain was very nice, but it became just a tad chilly for us, so we moved inside.  

My sister and i are not ones for eating bread, but we demolished all four of the hot, steamy, crispy different rolls - a multi-seed one, dark rye, one with raisins, and one with olives!  The waitress was very polite and attentive, and refilled our ice water and hot tea water without needing to be asked.  The tea bags get presented in a large wood box for your choice.

The lunch specials are $9 -- a very decent price. So many of the lunch specials sounded yummy, but we both chose fish.  I had rainbow trout -- a whole fillet, nicely pan-fried, on a bed of fresh mixed veggies.  The yellow-colored rice with carrot bits was soggy and not interesting, but there was that wonderful bread!

My sister had a whole tilapia fillet (pan-fried), on one of the biggest spinach salads i've seen.  The tomatoes were very fresh and delicious -- tomato-y tasting, which is so rare these days!  There were also hard-cooked egg pieces and bacon, with a side of Italian dressing in a gravy boat.  The dressing was too sweet for my taste.  Both fish dishes were excellent, and very decent portions.

The china itself was a simple creamy white, but unusually shaped:  mine was in a triangle shape, while the entree salad was in a unique and attractive (LARGE) slanted bowl (hard to describe.)  Very fun.

Decor (and bathroom):  VERY nice, classy, under-stated, comfortable. The napkins are nice large cloth ones.  Bathroom was spotless.  An advertising sign in there listed the "Winter Specials"  -- it's June 13 today.  When i asked the waitress about that, she said they were the same.    :)

They have a full bar with a TV above it, but fortunately it was not turned up while we were there.  (I hate loud TVs and music while eating.)  We did not order any drinks or ask to see the drink menu.  

My only disappointment was that the borscht (listed on the menu) was unavailable.  The restaurant opens at 11 AM.  We sat down about 11:35 AM.  Upon asking, the waitress said the cook reported it wouldn't be ready for about an hour.  I do not know if this was a-typical, but it sure seems better to have such items ready when the place opens.  She did offer the fresh cream of mushroom soup, tomato bisque, or the onion soup, but i'd had my heart set on the borscht.  It's just not something you can get anywhere.  (I'm taking off one star for this and the too-sweet italian dressing.)

I signed up for the email list, and supposedly will get coupons and specials, and a free appetizer (up to $10) with my next meal.  The waitress also gave us other coupons.

It's a little hard to find:  it's deep in an inner corner of a strip mall, west across the parking lot from the Burger King on McHenry Rd just north of Lake-Cook.  Binney's Beverage Depot and the Buffalo Grove theatre all share the same parking lot.  The Theatre is near the restaurant.   There's a lovely fountain outside the restaurant and theatre.  

Their website is <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pavilionchicago.com%2F&s=3e552f74b0051d6709754c4ce1e8ed6440b0ed8089758db76aeb24e03044f431" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.pavilionchica…</a>    They have a location in Northbrook, IL also.